


Trauma

by Gerstein03



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, No Inhumans, Season 2 AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:42:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24798625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gerstein03/pseuds/Gerstein03
Summary: Eight months after Grant Ward escapes he's still nowhere to be found. Skye decides to look into his past to see if that'll help her track him down.Or AU where Ward gives everyone the finger and disappears after he escapes from Christian
Relationships: Skye/Grant Ward
Comments: 8
Kudos: 50





	1. Who is Grant Ward?

Skye watched Ward be led out of the base. Part of her had expected him to insist on keeping his promise or something like that. She almost wished he had. Then she could’ve told him to fuck off. But he didn’t. He just got into the truck and was taken to his brother. At least that’s what she thought until Coulson told her Ward escaped custody and had vanished and because of that Christian refused to do the speech Coulson wanted him to do. Months went by and they hadn’t heard from Ward. He had just disappeared. She couldn’t put her finger on why. If he was a monster then he would’ve gone back to Hydra to work for Whitehall. If he was out trying to earn forgiveness from her she would’ve heard from him by now. She decided to do some digging.  _ Maybe his past will tell us where he’s gone _ . Skye thought. Born October 25th, 1984 in Massachusets as Grant Douglas Ward. Son of Randall and Dolores Ward, younger brother of Christian Ward, thirty five and older brother of Thomas Ward, twenty six and Rose Ward, deceased at age thirteen. As she continued digging she found medical records that had been swept under the rug for Christian, Grant, Thomas, and Rose of unexplained broken bones and various other injuries. At age fifteen Grant ODed on Vicodin and was sent to military school shortly after.  _ He tried to kill himself before? _ Skye thought, realizing what it really was. Then two years later, he escaped military school and went to juvie for burning his parents’ house down with Christian inside. This was around the time Rose Ward died under some mysterious circumstances. A few days later he was broken out and fell off the map for five years before he resurfaced in SHIELD. She decided to look up the last known location for Thomas Ward, the last person who might have any knowledge of where Ward might’ve gone. He lived in Baltimore working as a lawyer.

“Coulson I think I have a lead on Ward.” Skye said as she entered his office.”

“What lead?” he asked.

“I thought that looking into Ward’s history might tell us where he would go.” Skye stated. “I found hidden records of so much shady stuff. Coulson, Ward was telling the truth.”

“What do you mean?” Coulson asked.

“Everything he told us about his family, his parents, his brother, all of it, it was all true.” Skye exasperated. “And we handed him over to his abuser.”

“What’s the lead?” Coulson asked, keeping an even voice.

“His younger brother.” Skye answered. “I think he can help fill in the gaps and tell us where he’d run to.”

“Okay.” Coulson nodded. “Go see him and see if you can find Ward.”

\---

Skye walked up to Thomas’ door and knocked. It was opened by a red haired woman in her mid-twenties.

“Is Thomas here?” Skye asked. “I need to talk to him about his brother.”

“Which one?” the woman asked.

“Grant.” Skye answered.

“In that case you can come in.” The woman replied. “I’m Jane.”

“Skye.” Skye walked in and saw Thomas sitting at the table working on something.

“What do you need?” He asked.

“I’m a friend of Grant’s.” Skye stated. “I was hoping you could answer a few questions.”

“Sure.” Thomas replied.

“First, why did Grant try to burn down the house at seventeen?” Skye asked.

“Rose had just died.” Thomas answered. “Christian threw her down the stairs. Her injuries were bad. She was in a lot of pain, very depressed. In the end her heart just gave out. I called Grant and he was furious. Blamed Christian for killing Rose.”

“Oh my God.” Skye gasped. “Do you know where Grant might be?”

“Arlen.” Thomas answered. “It’s a small town in Texas. Our grandparents had a horse ranch there and they left it to Grant when they died. I think that’s where he’ll be.”

“Thank you.” Skye sighed. “That’ll be all.” She left the house and called Coulson. “I just got finished with Thomas.”

_ “Did he tell you anything that might help us find Ward?” _ Coulson asked.

“Uh no.” Skye lied. “He just filled me in on a few details. Listen I need to take some personal days. This investigating Ward stuff has me a little shaken up.”

_ “Okay. Whatever you need.”  _ Coulson replied.

\---

Skye arrived in Arlen and proceeded to search the town for Ward. She asked around about the owner of a horse ranch and learned it was owned by none other than Grant Ward and he also worked as a history teacher for the local high school. She drove over to the high school.

“Do you know what classroom Grant Ward teaches in?” Skye asked the secretary.

“Room 45.” The secretary answered.

“Thank you.” Skye smiled. She went to the classroom and stood in the doorway listening to Ward teach kids about World War II, specifically about the battle of Hacksaw Ridge and the soldier who saved 75 people without ever firing a gun.

“Maybe God was protecting him or maybe he just got really lucky, but Desmond Doss preformed an amazing feat that day.” Ward grinned. “He stood by his beliefs to never shoot a gun and in the heat of battle he never once wavered. He could’ve fled the ridge at any time that night but he continued to go back to save one more and he prayed that God would help him save one more.” The bell rang and Ward said, “Alright tonight get started on the World War II heroes paper. We’ll work on it in class next week.” As the class left Ward turned to see Skye standing in the doorway.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Ward sighed. “How’d you find me?”

“Spoke with your younger brother.” Skye answered. “Said Arlen was a good place to look.”

“You finally looked into my past didn’t you?” Ward laughed bitterly. “Only took you a year. You’re about eight months late.”

“Ward I don’t know what to say.” Skye said softly.

“Gimme your best shot.” Ward snapped. “Tell me what’ll make up for SHIELD handing me over to Christian. What’ll make up for giving me to the guy who tormented me for years, who turned gaslighting into an art form to make me, Rose, and Thomas all think we were crazy for thinking he was a piece of shit all while he beat us? Cause all the apologies in the world don’t mean a goddamn thing.”

“You’re right.” Skye muttered. “There isn’t anything I can do or say that will make up for what we did to you. We were so intent on believing that you were a monster and that you were evil that we never considered the possibility that you weren’t lying about your parents and brother. And we should have. I should have. SHIELD is supposed to act on all the information but we chose to use tunnel vision and gave an abuse victim to his abuser. I don’t expect you to forgive me for the role I played in sending you to Christian. I don’t think I will ever be able to forgive myself. But I need you to know how sorry I am for what I did.”

“That’s fantastic.” Ward said sarcastically. “Now unless you’re going to arrest me, get the fuck out of my classroom.”

“Okay.” Skye sniffled. “Just so you know, SHIELD is never going to bother you again. You have my word.”

“Forgive me if I’m not to optimistic in trusting that the people who turned me over to the guy who made my life hell and killed my sister.” Ward snapped.

“You promised you’d never lie to me now I’m making that promise to you.” Skye insisted. “I feel horrible for what happened and I wanna make right the little bit I can.”

“There is no making this right any of it.” Ward replied bitterly. “I know I betrayed you and I will regret that forever. But I thought we were making progress. I never lied to you. I answered any question you asked. I even offered to help you find your father! And then you played on my emotions, got me to tell you everything you I knew about him, made me think I had earned enough trust to try and help you and you threw it back in my face and not only crushed what little hope I had of redemption, but told me you were handing me over to the guy who tormented me and my siblings. I really hope there’s a hell because Coulson and I are gonna have words when we get there.” Ward stormed out of the classroom and slammed the door behind him while Skye fell back against the wall in tears. Ward had every right to despise her for what they had done to him. She felt like absolute shit for how she and SHIELD had treated him. Instead of helping him cope with his trauma and work through it they tossed him in solitary confinement and encouraged his attempts to kill himself. Coulson was the one she blamed most besides herself. A man who claimed that everyone is worth saving and everyone deserves a second chance denied one to Ward and punished him by sending him to his abuser. And in that moment she made her decision. She took out her phone and called Coulson.

“I quit.” Skye stated. Before he could say anything she snapped the phone in half.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of right now this is just a really depressing one-shot. Eventually I will update it into a full story though


	2. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye wakes up in Ward's house after a night of drinking and the two have a heart to heart

Skye woke up in a bed she didn’t recognize, her head feeling like someone was smacking her with a hammer. Sitting up, she looked around and was greeted with a surprising sight: Grant Ward, sitting in a chair and playing on his phone.

“Finally woke up.” Ward grumbled.

“What happened?” Skye asked.

“Found you in a bar drunk off your ass.” Ward answered. “You blacked out.”

“Grant…” Skye started before Ward cut her off.

“Don’t Skye.” Ward snapped. “Just don’t. I don’t want your apologies. I don’t wanna hear about how sorry you are or how much you regret what you did. That’ll never change the fact that you didn’t care and threw me to the wolves.”

“You’re right.” Skye admitted. “I didn’t care. I was so wrapped up in my own anger and betrayal that I didn’t care if what you said was true. I have to live with that for the rest of my life. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look myself in the mirror and not be ashamed for what I did to you. And I can’t work for an organization that is willing to do things like that without remorse. I told Coulson the mistake we’d made and he didn’t even flinch. That’s why I quit SHIELD.”

“SHIELD. Hydra. There’s no fuckin’ difference between them.” Ward chuckled ruefully. “They both self-righteously think they know best and they use the same cold tactical methods to accomplish their goals. Hydra just doesn’t claim to have the moral high ground. It’s like I told you before. Hydra doesn’t focus on the morals. SHIELD likes to pretend they give a shit about morality.” 

“I know it means less then nothing and you’re never gonna believe me, but I am so so sorry Grant.” Skye sniffed, bowing her head and not looking Ward in the eye. “I am so sorry and ashamed of what I did. I know I can never make it up to you, but I’m going to spend every day of the rest of my life trying.” After a long silence, Ward finally spoke up. “I really loved you Skye. More than anything. You were the first good thing to happen to me in fifteen years.”

“We missed our chance didn’t we.” Skye muttered.

“Yeah probably.” Ward sighed, rubbing his face. “Probably never had one in the first place. Maybe if things were different. Maybe if I hadn’t betrayed you, maybe if you’d learned my past before you gave me to Christian.”

“I know I have no right to ask this but please let me stay.” Skye pleaded. “Let me try to earn your trust back.”

“What I don’t have to earn your’s back?” Ward scoffed.

“No.” Skye answered. “I made a horrible mistake because I refused to let you earn my trust. I’m never making that mistake again so now I’m giving you my trust and I hope one day you’ll trust me again, even if I don’t deserve it.”

“I have a guest bedroom you can stay in.” Ward sighed after a long pause. At that, Skye’s heart skipped a beat. For a brief moment she was happy before it was ripped away when she realized that Ward was giving her what she’d refused to give him: a second chance. With that realization, tears began to flow down her face. “You okay?” Ward asked.

“No.” Skye sniffed. “I don’t deserve a second chance. I didn’t give you one so why should I get one.”

“Maybe the fact that you came all the way down here just to tell me how sorry you are means more to me than you realize.” Ward suggested. “It may not make up for what happened but I still appreciate it. I never expected an apology from anyone at SHIELD. I also never expected forgiveness. I know what I’ve done.”

“Who you became is not your fault.” Skye insisted. “You never had a chance to decide who you wanted to be. You deserved the chance to do that. And honesty, I think the real you is a lot like my old Robot SO.”

“Why do you think that?” Ward asked.

“Because he was a strong, brave person who put others first but he had a darkness lurking beneath the surface.” Skye answered. “He cared about his friends, even if he was a bit of a tool. He enjoyed board games and scotch and dogs. And he’s the guy I fell in love with. The guy I think I’m still in love with, even if he’ll never feel the same way about me again.”

“Get some rest.” Ward said. “I’ll make us something to eat.”

“Okay.” Skye replied.

“Oh and Skye?” Ward called back as he was walking out the door. “Never is a pretty long time.” Once she was alone, Skye couldn’t help but stare at the door, and didn’t fight the large smile that spread across her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New, shorter update. Hope you enjoy


End file.
